Princeton Review Names UMass Boston One of 150 ‘Best Value Colleges’ for 2012

The University of Massachusetts Boston is among the nation’s top 75 “Best Value” public colleges and universities in the country, according to the Princeton Review.

The education services company identified America's top undergraduate schools offering excellent academics, generous financial aid, and/or relatively low cost of attendance. The list includes 75 public and 75 private colleges.

“We are very pleased that the Princeton Review has recognized what we already knew – that the University of Massachusetts Boston is a great place to get a college education,” said Chancellor J. Keith Motley. “Not only are we committed to excellence in our classrooms, we are also committed to providing the financial assistance to get students into those classrooms. This is further evidence of our continued commitment to our mission of providing access to first-rate higher education.”

The Princeton Review's selection of its “Best Value” schools was based on analyses of data the company collected from an initial list of 650 institutions it identified as having excellent academics. More than 30 data points were assessed across three primary areas: academics, cost of attendance, and financial aid.

The Princeton Review also factored in data from surveys of students attending the schools who shared assessments of their professors and their satisfaction with their financial aid awards. The 2012 list includes 11 institutions in Massachusetts, including Williams College, Harvard College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Boston College. UMass Boston is the only public university in Massachusetts named to the list.

The list, along with profiles of the schools, appears in a new Princeton Review book, Best Value Colleges: 2012 Edition, and on the company's website.

“We recommend these extraordinary colleges as our ‘best buys’ for 2012 and salute them for all they are doing to keep costs down and / or offer generous aid to applicants with financial need,” said Robert Franek, Princeton Review's senior vice president/publisher and lead author.